


another time, another place

by meowjunhwi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: A series of different universes, Alternate Universe, Amnesia, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Implied Sexual Content, Kinda?, Light Angst, M/M, Married Life, Soulmates, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:42:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meowjunhwi/pseuds/meowjunhwi
Summary: In every universe parallel to the ones they live in, they are a different version of themselves even though their soul remains. But also, in every universe parallel to the ones they live in, one thing remains the same: they find each other and they fall in love.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Moon Taeil, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Nakamoto Yuta, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Kim Jungwoo, Lee Taeyong/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	another time, another place

**Author's Note:**

> hi i am: back with another jaeyu fic YAY!!! i kept on thinking about them in multiple aus and i just thought why not make a whole fic with parallel universe as a theme bc the idea suddenly struck me out of the blue!! 
> 
> i didn't exactly proofread this before i posted it hh so i apologize in advance for the mistakes and pls feel free to let me know what you think! i hope you enjoy this as much as i enjoyed writing it! <3

**_I. The Road Less Traveled By_ **

There was a man who longed to see the world ever since he was a child, climbing up trees and hiking up the mountains, wading through the rivers and discovering the life that hides within the forest. When that child grew up into a man, he saved enough on his own, and with his family’s blessing he sought out the world and the mysteries that lie in each corner, waiting to be unraveled.

He visited forgotten cities with houses broken down with age, nature growing in their seams and spaces. He visited the ruins of churches and other burned down buildings that once stood regal in its site, the sun shining down through the busted out windows and roofless ceilings. He visited libraries and museums and spent time learning the stories of towns and countries, of folktales and mythologies, cultures and languages. He tasted foods, delicacies and drinks of different varieties, each a unique taste on his tongue leaving a mark that makes his trip unforgettable.

He conversed with the locals and travelers like him in taverns and diners, sharing unique stories of their travels and sometimes even the most outrageous stories and rumours in the place where they’re currently at, all over bottles of beer and underneath the dim, swaying lights.

When the moon is high in the sky and most of the customers are long gone while some are passed away drunk on the tables, he retires in the inn just beside or above the tavern, sometimes with a one-time lover who generously offers him company for the night after suggestive glances and teasing gestures, but mostly he spends it alone, tiredness in his bones but satisfaction in his soul.

The thing with travelling like this is that there isn’t an acquaintance he knew long enough to actually get to know more about them intimately. Friendships come and go as soon as they take diverging paths. Romance is out of the question for this traveler who doesn't stay in one place for a long time. He was a young man with features that make the men and women flustered at the sight of his round eyes and gentle smile, yet none of them caught his attention long enough for him to actually stay.

The world is a large place and adventure waits in its hidden corners, and maybe a whole lot more, the traveler muses as he stands in the middle of forking roads, deciding which to take.

He looks up and sees that the skies are darkening, clouds swirling and maybe a hint of lightning flashes through and he immediately takes the road on the left, one in which the arrow sign pointing is too faded that one can’t read what’s written.

“That’s an old, winding road. Travelers no longer pass that way,” an old farmer driving a wooden cart calls from behind him when he finally came to a decision and started to walk the path of the road that looked deserted yet it made the excitement and thrill of the adventure and of the unknown run through the traveler’s vein.

“Are you sure you want to go that way? The weather’s not looking good. A storm might come soon,” the farmer tries to get him to change his mind but he was adamant about taking this road so he smiled gently at the old man and assured him that he would be fine, “Thank you, sir. But I’ll be fine. I’m sure I could find something out there that could be of help when the storm hits.”

There was a bit of hesitance in the farmer’s eyes but he let the traveler as he pleases and not long was he walking the deserted road, grass growing tall on either sides and some almost reaching the path where he walks.

As he ventured further, the road became uneven and he almost tripped on a crack that he overlooked while his eyes scanned the empty and lifeless place.

The lightning cracks in the distance and the darkening clouds hover above him. It didn’t take long before the rain was pouring hard on him and with profanities spilling from his mouth, the traveler ran towards the direction that takes him further down the lifeless path, searching for shelter that would take him in in this incoming storm.

Visibility almost close to zero, he is losing hope that there will be a house in this area and he thinks about regretting his choice, but then he sees an orange light in the distance and as he moves closer towards the glowing object, a small house-like inn comes into view, making him breathe out a sigh of relief.

He knocks on the door, shoulders hunched and one arm wrapped around his frame as shivers start to rack his body. No answer came so he tried again, louder this time for the life hiding behind the doors to hear his plea for help.

If it weren’t for the cold blanketing his entire figure, he would’ve cheered when he heard footsteps coming from the other side, followed by the locks unlatching and finally the door opened and a man was shocked when he saw a traveler wet and shivering on his front step.

The inn caretaker didn’t waste a single amount of time to let the traveler inside and stir him towards the bathroom, leaving him for a while to rush around the house and gather the essential items: a towel he could use to dry, clothes to change into and a pot of hot water for his bath.

Freshly changed and towel wrapped around his neck to catch the droplets of water than run down from his long brown hair, the traveler steps into the common area and sees the inn-keeper sitting by the fireplace with a book in hand and a in front of him, two cups of steaming liquid waiting for the host and his unexpected guest.

He sits down on the empty space beside the inn-keeper and picks up the mug, sighing as he feels the heat warm his cold hands. He takes a sip, humming in delight at the sweetness that unraveled on his tongue.

Hot chocolate.

“Thank you,” he says quietly and the inn-keeper raised his head from where it was buried in his book, round-framed glasses perched on top of his nose.

The inn-keeper smiles at him, an adorable and dimpled, gentle smile, and nods, “You’re welcome. I am quite shocked, to be honest. I didn’t expect a guest, not in this storm, too.”

“Am I intruding?” the traveler asked, his forehead creasing slightly in worry but the chuckle that falls from between the inn-keepers lips eased it away.

“No, not at all. Quite the opposite. I am more than happy and you are more than welcome to stay for the duration that the storm rages,” he picks up his cup and takes a sip.

The traveler nods and their conversation for the night ends there, a peaceful quiet settling inside the house while the wind howls outside the closed doors.

As the days passed and the storm continued to rage outside, quite stronger than the traveler had expected, he got to know the inn-keeper through conversations shared in the fireplace over cups of coffees and bowls of soup, or whatever food is on the menu for the day.

(He finds out that the inn-keeper is a rather good cook, and he delights in the different dishes he comes up with in every meal.)

He learns that the inn-keeper lives alone and he inherited the business from his parents that had long-passed.

Back in the days, when the inn-keeper was just a boy, this road was one where travelers frequent and it was a lively and bustling town. But people move on and leave, and now the town is just a memory of a place long gone, once lively and now had been deserted.

His friends visit him from time to time to make sure he is doing well, but at the end of the day, the noise that comes with their visits turn into silence once the inn-keeper is again left alone.

But he refused to leave this place, even if it could be considered that he lives in the middle of nowhere. He keeps the house clean and comfortable, enough for visitors to feel at home if they stayed for a short while or longer.

“Why won’t you leave this place?” the traveler asks while they were sitting on the floor by the fireplace (not on the comfortable, pillowed chairs, but on the carpeted floor with blankets on their laps and cups of hot chocolate in front of them) and he turns his head slightly to look at the man sitting beside him, strands of wavy brown hair falling against his eyes that are not framed with his round reading glasses.

The traveler realizes that the man is handsome, his looks princely in nature, but there’s something gentle about him, especially now that his features are illuminated by the light of the fire blazing in front of them.

“Why, I wonder,” the inn-keeper mumbles, bringing the traveler out of his musings as he shifts his gaze back to the fire, watching it dance.

“Maybe because of travelers like you, I guess.”

“Travelers like me?” he asked, tilting his head in confusion. The inn-keeper just nods with a smile on his face, the indents of his dimple visible on his cheek, “Yes. Those who take the roads less traveled by. Makes you wonder why they do and what brought them here. Most of the time, they bring with them the most interesting stories, too.”

“Well, there’s something curious about unfrequented roads. I like the thrill of adventure and the unknown. And well,” the traveler leans back on his hands, his stance relaxed as he shoots the inn-keeper a smile that lifts only the side of his lips, “They have the most unexpected yet pleasant surprises, in my opinion.”

The inn-keeper chuckles at the subtle attempt at flirting but it doesn’t go unwelcomed. Instead he even scooted closer and let their shoulders brush, both of them settling in that position for the rest of the night, too comfortable and warm to move away.

The days passed by and the anger of the storm fades away, finally letting the sun out of its hiding, but the traveler was too immersed with the company of the inn-keeper that he doesn’t find himself in a hurry to pack his bags and be well on his way.

He enjoys the mornings when he shuffles into the kitchen at the smell of eggs and freshly-baked bread coupled with a cup of coffee. He enjoys the domesticity of doing chores alongside each other to keep the place squeaky clean. And at night, when their bellies are full, they settle down by the fireplace to talk or just sit together in silence, the inn-keeper reading a book while mindlessly playing with the traveler’s long dark brown strands as the latter lays his head on the former’s lap.

Sometimes the inn-keeper reads his book out loud, at the request of the traveler because he said that he likes hearing him talk. And sometimes, it is the opposite. The inn-keeper would lie down on the traveler’s lap and listen to the stories of his adventures, a whole world outside the small cottage flowing from his mouth.

The inn-keeper admires the flame of passion lighting up the traveler’s bright brown eyes whenever he speaks of his adventures and the things he discovered and learned along the way, and it makes fondness bloom in his chest, more and more as they spend the days together. But with fondness came the fear that the traveler would one day choose to leave because why would a free soul like him stay in this cottage in the middle of nowhere with an inn-keeper when he could go out and see more of the world?

His fear manifested when one day, the storm long gone and the skies were bright once again, a knock came from the door and the two occupants of the house shared a look before the inn-keeper stood up to answer the door.

Turns out it was his friend who came to visit, relieved and delighted that the inn-keeper had been doing well, even after the storm that passed, and surprised when he saw the presence of another man inside the house.

“He turned up on my front step when the storm hit and I offered him a place to stay,” the inn-keeper explained and his friend just nodded. The three of them spent the afternoon talking within each other until the inn-keeper’s friend had to leave once the sun had set because he had to go home to his family.

When it was just the inn-keeper and the traveler left, there was a heavy silence in the house as they fixed the table and washed the plates.

“So,” the traveler began, making the inn-keeper freeze in his movements for a short while before he continued scrubbing the grime off the plates while the traveler dried them from beside him, just like how they’ve been doing for the past days that they lived together.

“The storm had long passed,” the traveler’s voice was quiet, “and I should be on my way,”

“But,”

The inn-keeper unconsciously holds his breath as he waits for the traveler to continue, hands halting their movements as well but his eyes remain glued on the plate he holds.

“Is it okay if I stay? I can for as long as I want, right?”

The traveler had long stopped wiping the plate, his hands shaking with nervousness that he decided to just put it down because he wouldn’t want to risk accidentally dropping and breaking it. His voice was shaky but he was glad that he finally voiced out his question and when the last word left his mouth, the inn-keeper slowly turned to look at him with his eyes wide and mouth opening and closing like a gaping fish as if wanting to say something but couldn’t find the words to do so.

So, he lets his actions speak for him, pulling the traveler close by wrapping an arm around his waist and finally, _finally_ , pressing a kiss on those lips.

He feels the traveler stiffen up before he melts into the embrace, tilting his head slightly to the side to fit their lips better and then he brings his hands up to cup the traveler’s cheeks.

When the need for air comes up, they break the kiss and settle on pressing their foreheads together, breaths shared in the small space between them. There was a wide, dimpled smile on the inn-keeper’s face and the traveler couldn’t help the laughter that bubble’s out from his chest.

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes. You could stay for a long time if you wish it,” happiness bleeds through his tone, but it was replaced with a sort of hesitance when he asked, “But how about your travels?”

The traveler pressed a short kiss on the inn-keeper’s lips again before he answered, “I think I saw enough of the world. It’s time to settle down and I got what I really want right here.”

They spent the night basking in the bliss of their newly-found and formed relationship, getting to know each other intimately and mapping out planes of each other’s bodies with their hands and mouths.

It was the beginning of a new world for both of them, one that they will discover and map out together.

_The traveler took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference._

****

*****************

**_II. Steel hearts_ **

_Initiating system start up in five… four… three… two… one…_

Yuta wakes up from his sleep mode, feeling hazy as he slowly blinks his eyes open. He sits up and rubs his eye, squinting at the sunlight that slips through the gaps of the curtains, and then he stands up not long after as he had to prepare for his monthly re-programming in the laboratory.

He has no memories of the life he had lived. He only remembers that he woke up as another being, created and programmed to be half-android and half-human.

“Maybe we’re all just full androids,” a memory of Haechan flashes from the back of his mind, “we lack a lot of things in the ‘human’ department, don’t you think?”

Sad to say, he had to be rewired when their creator learned that he said those words. Sometimes, Yuta thinks that Haechan is the most intelligent and human of them all, and he is proven right again and again. And that worries him as much as it amazes him because with humanness also came a lot of danger.

They were only human in the sense that they live in their skin and flesh but with the programming ingrained into them, they’re just a bunch of androids following a written manual on how to act with no emotions to guide them what to feel about certain situations.

“Emotions are fickle things, you see,” their creator said when Yuta was being reprogrammed, “They make you weak and they make your logic crumble. The world would be a better place without it.”

Before blackness overcame him, Yuta thought that emotions are what makes one human and that it makes the world a better place to live in, more vibrant and more colorful.

“Yuta?” Jaehyun calls for his attention as the other male stands by the door of their shared bathroom, and it snaps Yuta out of his early morning musings. He didn’t notice he was spacing out.

He moves to the side to make way for Jaehyun, the sink big enough for them to stand side by side and brush their teeth together.

Jaehyun takes his own toothbrush and sighs when he sees the uncapped toothpaste. Yuta struggles to come up to describe the kind of sigh that leaves Jaehyun’s mouth but he knows the connotation isn’t negative.

“Left the toothpaste cap open again, I see,” Jaehyun says in his monotonous voice, a tone that is usual for all of them androids, before he squeezes it softly to place a small amount on his own toothbrush. Yuta just blinks and continues brushing his own teeth, not offering any other response to the other male.

When he exits the bathroom, he pauses in his steps as suddenly, he blacks out for a very short moment, hand finding the door frame to hold himself up.

“Are you okay?” Jaehyun asks him and Yuta answers with a nod, ignoring the look of concern as he ventures towards his closet to get a new change of clothes.

Sometimes, this kind of thing happens, where at the sudden burst of familiarity in his friends’ words and actions left him malfunctioning, his system blacking out for a moment, as if restarting.

These past few days, it has been occurring a lot more, especially when he spends time with Jaehyun, inside or outside their shared room.

Yuta can’t explain what it is exactly but it’s like having a film roll playing inside your head except the photos are not clear. They were blurred images of what seemed like moments captured in time and he finds himself wondering more often than not what they were because they felt so familiar yet so out of touch, almost like a dream.

“...Yuta...?”

“...Yuta…?”

“Yuta!”

His vision focuses and now standing in front of him is Jaehyun, forehead creased in an expression Yuta can’t really place, and what seems to be his hands cupping his cheeks.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” Jaehyun asks again and Yuta swallows hard, suddenly feeling a lump in his throat as he sees the rather intense look on Jaehyun’s face, “Yes. I think my system is just malfunctioning. I’m a few days late for my monthly appointment, after all.”

Jaehyun looks at him, unbelieving, but instead of saying something, he takes a step back, out of Yuta’s reach.

Yuta doesn’t know, and he mulls it over in his head as he prepares to leave and as he walks towards the laboratory, why he wants to pull Jaehyun back into his space and have him hold him again. It confuses him and maybe it shows in his face when the scientist sees him as he enters the laboratory and sits on the designated chair.

“Ah, it happened again,” the scientist mumbles, clicking his tongue in what must be a sign of annoyance.

“What did?” Yuta asks, confused, but the scientist just smiled at him, and in no way is it warm like the ones Jaehyun shows him.

(He doesn’t know where that memory came from, but it just feels like something he must remember all the time: Jaehyun’s fond and gentle expression as he looks at him with a dimpled smile on his face and adoration swimming in his eyes.)

“Nothing you need to know, or else it would mess badly with your programming. We wouldn’t want that, no?” Yuta shakes his head as an answer, content with having his system be reprogrammed every month instead of being transferred in another facility, out of reach from his friends.

He closes his eyes, hears the whirring of the machine around him, and lets himself be submerged into blackness once again.

*

“Why don’t you say something?” Haechan asks as he looks at Jaehyun’s forlorn expression. The older male sought him out earlier and now, they sat together in the younger’s bed with their backs leaning against the wall.

“I can’t,” Jaehyun answers, a mixture of resentment, anger, frustration and longing in his tone as he voices out the reason why he can’t let himself tell Yuta how much he means to him.

“In exchange for letting him stay with me and letting them keep my memories, I have to keep my distance and remain silent. Otherwise, they’d ship him off to other facilities in who knows where and I’d never see him again.”

Jaehyun remembers how he begged his programmer to let him keep his memories, how he bargained and agreed that in exchange for them, he’ll have to remain silent and keep his distance from Yuta, even when it’s hard to do so considering they share a room and all Jaehyun wants to do is hold him in his arms and tell him how he feels.

“Yuta was dying back then, and the only way to make sure he lives is to agree with the program,” Jaehyun explains, feeling the tears prickle at the side of his eyes as he felt the unmistakable painful clenching of his heart, very real and very human, the most human of all the androids living in this facility.

Sometimes he thinks it’s a curse, getting to keep his humanity when everyone around him is programmed to act like robots, unfeeling and controlled by the ones who created them.

In this technology-controlled facility, what makes everything better is Yuta’s smile and his face and his general presence. The only light in the otherwise dim place that their world had plunged into. The only thing that makes everything worth it for Jaehyun.

He doesn’t want a repeat of that day before their lives changed, when Yuta lays helpless in his arms, his hands cold when Jaehyun holds them and the life in his eyes dimming as he slowly dies a painful death.

Yuta is alive now, and that’s what matters the most.

“I lost him once, I don’t want to lose him again.”

*

_Initiating system reboot in five… four… three… two… one…_

Yuta opens his eyes and squints immediately at the harshness of the light that shines above him.

He sits up and notices the other presence in the room, sitting on the couch with a magazine in his hands. The man looks up when he hears the creaking of the bed and he closes the magazine, setting it aside in favor of making his way to Yuta’s side.

“Hello. I’m here to escort you back to your quarters,” the man says and his voice is deep yet friendly. Yuta finds that he likes it.

He leaves the room together with the man and he glances at him every now and then as they walk towards the other side of the facility compound where their living quarters are located.

“What’s your name?” Yuta asks, curious about this man’s identity.

“I’m Jaehyun. You’re Yuta,” the man, Jaehyun, answers and Yuta was quite shocked that he knew his name.

“You know my name.”

“Yes, I do. I’m your assigned roommate and the receptionist called for me when your monthly appointment was done.”

Yuta just hums in acknowledgment before asking another question that’s been bugging him ever since he saw the man inside the room when he woke up, “Do I know you?”

It took a while for Jaehyun to answer and when he did, his voice was quiet, “No.”

There was a smile on his face, but it didn't look at all like a good smile, so Yuta found himself pinching the other’s cheek, catching Jaehyun off-guard.

“What was that for?” he asks, forehead creased adorably in confusion,but Yuta just shrugs in reply, “Nothing. That doesn’t look like a real smile.”

“What looks like a real smile then?”

Yuta purses his lip in thought as he ponders about the answer to Jaehyun’s question and he doesn’t know where the answer came from, but the words fall naturally from his lips.

“The kind that reaches your eyes and lets the dimples on your cheeks show.”

Jaehyun looks at him and then he laughs softly, reaching forward to ruffle Yuta’s hair before he starts walking again, “Let’s go. We have to get you settled in before dinner.”

Yuta quickens his pace to catch up with Jaehyun and he is very much delighted at the sight of the more natural and more genuine smile on Jaehyun’s lips.

“You look like someone I know,” Yuta tells him, prompting Jaehyun to look at him from the side of his eyes.

“Who?”

“I… don’t really remember,” Yuta answers when nothing comes up in his mind about the identity of the person that he just mentioned.

But then he smiles softly as he continues, “I just know that he has the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen in this world.”

*

_Yuta stands on the tips of his toes and presses a kiss on Jaehyun’s lips, feeling them split into a smile as the taller man wraps his arms around Yuta’s waist to pull him closer as he deepens the kiss._

_When they part, Jaehyun smiles at him, and ever since he first saw that smile, Yuta keeps the image of it in his heart and in his mind, never to be tampered with no matter what happens because Jaehyun’s smile— eyes soft and adoring, a hint of teeth and the dimples showing on his peach-like cheeks— is the most beautiful thing that Yuta had ever laid his eyes upon._

_“I love you, Jae.”_

_“I love you too, Yuta.”_

*****************

**_III. I Can’t Wait To Love You All Alone_ **

Moon Taeil is the kind of person who knows a lot of things, merely by observing the way people interact and behave. He notices what others don’t, sees what others fail to look into.

That’s why when Johnny and Taeyong started going out on dates and not long after, Yuta and Jaehyun walked out of the former’s bedroom, with messed up hairs and wrinkled shirts and marks on skins shaped by mouths and desperation, Taeil knew that something was bound to happen.

For now, he sits and waits for things to unfold, because he believes that only Time could tell what could and would become of two lost souls and broken hearts.

*

Yuta and Jaehyun stumble through the doorway of the former’s apartment, lips connected in a heated kiss and arms wrapped around each other in what could’ve been desperation, if they were to actually think about it.

But they forewent all logical thoughts and just mapped their way through the hallways to Yuta’s bedroom where they fell together on the unmade bed in heaps of limbs and shortened breaths.

They only paused for a short while to look at each other, make out each other’s forms in the darkness of the room before they were back on each other, hands rushing to take the clothes off the other’s body as if they had offended them.

And maybe they did, in a way, for it hinders the sensation of skin on skin, and Yuta wonders when was it that he craved Jaehyun’s touch so badly.

(There was also the realization that despite the little light in the bedroom, streaming from the streetlights through the gaps of the curtains hanging from his window, he could accurately and perfectly map out Jaehyun’s form, as if he knew everything by heart. And maybe he does.)

When hands could freely map out the skin without the barrier of clothing, Jaehyun slows down, the urgency long gone in favor of taking his time with Yuta, tracing the lines of the body he knows like the back of his hand, delighting in the small sounds that he pulls out from the one lying down beneath him, and he too, wonders, just when was the desperation to forget turned into another kind of desperation, one that makes him want more of Yuta— and not just the kind that is limited to bodily pleasures.

After they reached their high that night, they decided to just lay down together, not bothering to wear clothes or turning the light on. Yuta scoots closer and curls up next to Jaehyun, head pillowed on the latter’s chest as Jaehyun wraps an arm around his shoulders.

In the silence of the bedroom, with only the sounds of their breathing filling the space, Yuta wonders loudly, “If we met under different circumstances, what do you think we would be by now?”

Jaehyun hums in thought before he answers that, “Maybe we’re best friends, partners in crime,” and that pulls a laugh out of Yuta, the soft kind like the tinkling of a chime when the wind gently blows in the summer, and that makes Jaehyun smile.

The words “ _maybe we could also be a bit more_ ” were left unsaid as they chose not to address what’s been bothering them ever since the night began and what were once rough and rushed kisses and tumbles through the bedsheets became something more than that.

Maybe it would be easier if they could still put up the excuse that they’re sleeping with each other because there is comfort in knowing that there is someone who experiences the same kind of pain that unrequited love brings.

At the beginning it was just that. Simply and plainly that. Yuta asks if Jaehyun wants to sleep with him and Jaehyun agrees with no hesitance in his voice.

(Yuta remembers finding the same kind of longing and pain swimming in Jaehyun’s eyes in a dim-lighted bar on a Friday night, and with a bit of liquid courage, a few drunken but graceful moves on the dance floor led to a night on the sheets— the first of the many.)

It was a bit easier back then because there was only the pleasure of their bodies and their broken hearts were forgotten for the meantime. They basked in the comfort their physical connection brings and only the darkness could hear the pain beneath all those pleasure-filled sounds.

His arrangement with Jaehyun is comfortable enough the way it is— they meet up every once in a while to fuck and they rarely talk about their feelings at all because they were there to forget not share what broke their hearts over cups of hot chocolate and buckets of tears. It worked well for them and for a long time, even as they moved on from university and into the busy and stressful corporate world of the society, it continues to stay that way.

Until it changed, and Yuta could pinpoint exactly when their dynamics changed.

One night, Yuta comes over to Jaehyun’s apartment with take-out and a bottle of sake, eyes watery and smile shaky. Jaehyun was immediately worried because Yuta, in all the times they’ve spent together, never shows up at his doorstep like he is minutes away from breaking down into tears.

And he really was because a few minutes later, after emptying the take-out boxes and leaving them on the coffee table, tears streamed down his cheeks as he faced Jaehyun and told him that finally, he confessed his years-long, unrequited love for Johnny Suh.

Jaehyun didn’t think twice about pulling the other man for a hug and it only served to make Yuta cry harder. Jaehyun just held him, arms tightening around Yuta’s form as he rocked both of them back and forth, occasionally giving Yuta a kiss on the top of his head. If there is one thing he knows about Yuta (out of all the things he came to learn as different sides of him unfold in the years they spent knowing each other) it is that Yuta likes being held when he doesn’t feel alright.

When Yuta calmed down a bit, he didn’t even think of straying far from Jaehyun’s embrace, content with the warmth that his body brings.

“He and Taeyong are getting married,” Yuta says after a period of silence and Jaehyun isn’t shocked anymore, having heard of the news from Taeyong himself earlier that week.

“You already knew didn’t you? But you didn’t tell me even if we saw each other almost the whole week,” the question was more like a statement but Jaehyun answers nonetheless.

“I figured it would be better if you’d hear it from Johnny himself since you told me you were planning to talk to him as well.”

Yuta just hums and stays silent, because Jaehyun was right and somehow he is thankful that finally, he got the closure he needed by confessing his once unrequited love.

The talk with Johnny was more… refreshing and freeing than painful, Yuta came to realize as he sat next to Jaehyun and watched Netflix for the rest of the night.

He was glad that he finally got it out of his chest and that the tears he held back from all those years were finally out of his system along with the one-sided love that he felt ever since he was in college.

Yuta looks at Jaehyun from the side of his eyes, the younger man slowly drifting to sleep as he was comfortably leaning against the arm of the couch with a soft, fleece blanket pulled up until his chin, and he wonders how Jaehyun was able to push through with his own confession back when Taeyong graduated from university.

But he realized that Jaehyun had always been strong and determined, his resolve hard enough when he is set on doing something that not even Yuta could break through, even if he used his puppy eyes, nor could Jungwoo even if their younger friend whines adorably.

Yuta admires Jaehyun’s courage and strength and somehow he thinks, maybe he could have done the same two years before.

“What’s important is you were able to push past through your fear and actually do what you’ve been wanting to do. For that, I am proud of you,” he remembered Jaehyun’s words from earlier and that eases something inside of him as he settles down and lets sleep take him.

From then on, they started hanging out more often than they used. At first it was Jaehyun trying to distract him and prevent him from holing up in his apartment despite Yuta’s numerous reassurances that he won’t do such a thing. He had enough of being heartbroken for the rest of his college days, thank you very much.

Still, Jaehyun takes him out on days when they’re not busy with their own personal lives and they do the things that they bond over and spend time doing together (aside from sex, that is) back in college. Hiking, basketball, biking and late night arcade games in Gangnam district.

This, Yuta realizes, is kind of nice, too. A whole lot different from what he and Jaehyun are used to but not bad at all.

They were friends _friends,_ even if they don’t really acknowledge it out loud and even without the whole sex thing, but the relationship is there. And that was enough.

The realization that they could be more, however, was a different story.

Doyoung was the first to point it out because it is such a Doyoung thing to do, to notice something and immediately call it out. Then, the next is Johnny, the object of Yuta’s affection once, because he knew Yuta well enough to know and see when there are subtle changes in the way he acts.

“You spend a lot of time together recently,” Johnny states his observation when he met up with Taeil, Yuta and Doyoung one night for dinner. Yuta just snorts, taking a bite from his salad before answering, “We spend a lot of time together. Since college.”

“Yeah, but you don’t look at him before the way you do right now,” Doyoung says, making Yuta crease his forehead. He looks to Taeil for help but the older just shrugs unhelpfully.

“I don’t get it,” Yuta quips, looking at each of his friends to clarify their statements and actually tell him what they’re getting at. Doyoung sighs, like he is moments away from face-palming while Taeil and Johnny share a look and Yuta feels so out of the loop because clearly, he is missing something here.

“You don’t look at someone like you’re in love with them and claim that you’re just friends who fuck each other every now and then,” Doyoung says, looking straight at Yuta’s eyes, unwavering while Yuta stares back at him with disbelief.

In another side of the city, Jaehyun sits in front of Lee Taeyong and Kim Jungwoo while he runs his hand down his face and messes up his gelled-back hair, wondering what to do with the same kind of information given to him.

Because clearly, both Yuta and Jaehyun aren’t good at dealing with these kinds of emotions, even more when they have to actually do something about them. It even took them years to finally say something about their respective feelings to Johnny and Taeyong.

Falling in love or rather, being in love with Jaehyun is a whole new different territory. Yuta’s scared to know what lies in there because even though he knows Jaehyun’s long over Taeyong and he himself had moved on from Johnny (for a long while now, he realizes, ever since he had accepted the fact that Johnny Suh is clearly in love with Lee Taeyong and all that will ever be there for him and Yuta is friendship), it doesn’t automatically mean that there is a chance that Jaehyun will feel the same way towards him. Though there are no other mentions of people aside from their friends and they hang out often enough that sometimes Yuta spends his nights at Jaehyun’s place when he is too tired or lazy to go home, and even then, there were no traces of a special someone in Jaehyun’s life.

A part of him says, _It’s you, dumbass_ , but maybe it was the wishful thinking part because he can’t afford to bring his hopes up only to be put down because it wasn't what he expected to be.

He imagines what it would be if Jaehyun were to leave his life and Yuta immediately finds that he doesn't like that in the slightest bit. He genuinely enjoys Jaehyun's company and he always looks forward to the next time they’ll see each other.

(Also, Yuta doesn’t mention but there was something about the view of Jaehyun’s relaxed face as he had his eyes closed, standing near the guarded edges of the mountain they once hiked, strands of hair sticking to his forehead because of the sweat but he looks peaceful as they stand on high ground, far from the city and the noise and the stress.)

(The same day, Yuta doesn’t know that Jaehyun took a picture of him framed by the sunset. An impulse decision that the younger man didn’t regret, not even the slightest bit, because there is something beautiful with the way the sun kisses Yuta’s skin as the day ends and he wonders silently, how a sunset turned into a sunrise. He realizes that the answer is right in front of him.)

However, the thing that both Yuta and Jaehyun haven’t come to realize yet is that what they’ve been searching for as they sail through the seas and oceans of this life and this universe has been standing beside them all along. It just takes one push and a nudge in the right direction for them to find out that they don’t have to worry about falling alone because they had always been falling together.

*

Yuta decided that he will tread through the waters lightly and slowly, afraid of drowning because he thinks that once he did, it will be a lot harder to swim his way back.

The next time they went out together, after the realization came, Yuta stumbled in his words and he got flustered whenever he caught Jaehyun looking at him.

Jaehyun thinks it’s cute how the always-confident Yuta shies away at his gaze and Yuta thinks it’s adorable how the tips of Jaehyun’s ears turned red the moment Yuta reached out to wipe the chilli paste on the side of Jaehyun’s lips.

Those were meaningless actions once but now with the realization of their feelings, it was enough for them to feel like high school teenagers with a huge crush.

*

After a night of reverent touches and desperate kisses, of mouths taking their time to unravel each other beneath the moonlight with the soft cotton sheet grazing their heated skins, of questions filling their minds of the different possibilities if they were to meet under different circumstances, of whether they could be _more,_ Yuta and Jaehyun sleep wrapped around each other.

Yuta’s last thought before he envelopes himself in the comfort of sleep was that he needs to make a move and finally say something about whatever this is, whatever they are and what he feels.

Jaehyun’s last thought before he dreams was that he wouldn’t want to risk losing Yuta because he was too much of a coward to confess. There is a chance and he will take it, no matter how little it is.

After all, love, and life itself, is about taking the risk, isn’t it?

*

The party in Moon Taeil’s house was already in full swing by the time Jaehyun and Yuta arrived together.

Yuta didn’t waste any time, taking a bottle of beer for himself and Jaehyun before making his way to the living room and settling down beside Doyoung, who is currently in an intense Mario Kart face-off with his boyfriend, Jungwoo.

Jaehyun, on the other hand, sits on the high chairs by the kitchen island, taking the empty one beside Sicheng who is contentedly staying away from the chaos that is about to unfold in their house.

“Not going to go have some fun?” Jaehyun asks him and Sicheng just scrunches his nose as flashbacks of every party they had ends up in disasters that almost had each one of them kicked out from their apartments back in college.

“Someone has to be sober enough to keep them in line,” Sicheng answers instead, opting to drink juice for the rest of the night. Jaehyun nods, not really believing because he knows one way or another, Sicheng will cave and drink some beer or wine.

In the living room, in front of the television and gaming set, Doyoung groans as he loses another round and Yuta laughs loudly as he high-fives Jungwoo above Doyoung’s head.

Jaehyun watches the object of his affection and the dazzling smile on his lips and yes, he thinks, he really may be in love with that smile and the one who wears it like a charm.

The rest of the night just gets louder and louder and thank the heavens that Taeil had actually moved out of his apartment building and into a new house in a village with Sicheng or else they would’ve been kicked out. With the noise they’re making, it is a huge possibility and Jaehyun is honestly surprised that the neighbors haven’t called the cops on them yet when it is nearing 1am and Johnny’s shout combined with Jungwoo’s and Haechan’s drunk, high-pitched, singing voices and Doyoung and Taeyong’s never-ending bickering are enough to make Jaehyun’s ears ring.

It didn’t help that Mark thought it was a good idea to actually turn the music up to maximum volume. Jaehyun thinks the house will blow up anytime.

Yuta is laughing at the side as he watches the chaos unfold and well, at least he is having fun.

Johnny calls everyone’s attention and they all decide on a game of beer pong. They played rock, paper, scissors for the team, and as expected, Yuta and Jaehyun were in one team.

“We are so going to win this,” Yuta says as he stands beside Jaehyun on one side of the kitchen table and Doyoung just scoffs at him.

In the end, they really did and Haechan even went to them for a faux interview, asking them how they feel about winning.

“I knew we’d win and we did,” Jaehyun says matter-of-factly and Yuta even adds, “We just couldn’t lose.”

They set the television up for a karaoke session afterwards and after singing and vibing with a few songs, Jaehyun stands up and steps out into the porch for a much needed quiet, as quiet as it could get in this kind of party setting, and the cool September air that greets him is refreshing and very much welcome.

The door opens not long after, and out onto the porch and now standing right next to Jaehyun is Yuta who saw him leave a little bit a while ago.

Yuta offers Jaehyun the bottle of water he took on his way out and the latter thanks him before taking a few gulps.

Then they just stood there in comfortable silence, leaning on their arms on the wooden railing, looking up at the stars twinkling above them.

Taeil and Sicheng really chose a wonderful location for where they would settle together for a long time, a bit of a drive from the city, but it was worth it, Jaehyun thinks, especially if the night view could get this beautiful, like galaxies laid out above them.

The comfortable silence lasted a bit more, two and a half songs because Jaehyun was counting, and Yuta breaks it, his voice soft when he calls for Jaehyun's attention.

“Hey,” Yuta nudges him with his shoulder and Jaehyun acknowledges him with a hum, because for some reason, he feels nervous enough that he doesn’t feel confident about opening his mouth to speak.

“I think,” Yuta continues and pauses for a little bit, biting his lower lip in contemplation before he takes a deep breath and lets the rest of his words fall from his lips.

“I think I might be in love with you.”

The way the words reached Jaehyun’s ears and registered in his mind was slow and quick at the same time and when it finally dawned on him that this is real and this moment is happening, he lets out a soft, breathless laugh, relieved and happy and ecstatic all at once.

(And maybe a bit more in love, too.)

He turns to look at Yuta with what might be the sappiest look on his face but damn it, Jaehyun is so happy he doesn’t care. All he wants to do is pull Yuta close and kiss him and hold him for as long as he could and for as long as Yuta allows him to.

“I think I might be in love with you, too.”

Yuta’s eyes widened and then he blinked as if trying to register what Jaehyun just said and then a smile bloomed on his face like the flowers during spring and it took Jaehyun’s breath away.

Yuta laughs softly and Jaehyun did too and they stood there on the porch underneath the stars, laughing and in love, finally realizing that all this time they had been falling together and now they had reached the ground.

Yuta moves closer to Jaehyun and Jaehyun didn’t waste a fraction of time to dip his head down and meet Yuta’s lips with a much-awaited kiss.

*

Moon Taeil smiles to himself as he walks back to the kitchen to get something to drink before returning to the living room where the rest of their group is gathered.

He didn’t mean to overhear their conversation. He was just looking for them to ask whether they want to go get some samgyupsal at this late hour when he realized that they were having a moment and sharing quiet confessions.

Taeil immediately left at the realization of what was unfolding on his front porch.

He hums to himself as he pours water in a glass and as he places it down on the kitchen counter after having a drink, he feels arms wrap around his frame and Sicheng’s drowsy voice flows through his ears, “You sound happy.”

“I am,” Taeil chuckles as he turns around in his boyfriend’s hold.

“Things are finally falling into place, right where they belong. I couldn’t be happier.”

Sicheng smiles at him and lays a head on his shoulder before he stands up straight again to pull him towards the living room.

Jaehyun and Yuta were back inside, sitting closely together on the loveseat with their hands clasped on top of Jaehyun’s thigh, fingers intertwined.

Jaehyun turns his head a bit to press a kiss on Yuta’s temple then his mouth moves ever-so-slightly as if whispering something that only the two of them could know, resulting in the flustered and giddy smile on Yuta’s face.

If anyone notices the affectionate gesture and the change in their relationship, no one says anything just yet, content to let them be.

There are a lot of time after for teasing and I-told-you-so’s, when they’re more sober and not exactly craving samgyupsal in their half-drunken states at almost three in the morning.

The moon and the stars celebrate for yet again, the universe worked its magic. Only time could tell what could be of broken hearts and wandering souls and now time had said that broken hearts could love again and love a whole more and that those two wandering souls had already found each other long before they even knew it was in each other that they would find what they were looking for the most.

*****************

**_IV. Can You Take All My Love?_ **

The sounds of labored breathing and sneakers squeaking on hardwood floors filled the practice room as all the trainees occupying the room went over their routine once again.

Slowly, all the movements are starting to be ingrained in their muscles and in their bones and one day it will be so familiar that they might be able to dance to the songs perfectly and flawlessly even in their sleep.

The door opens then music pauses and they all stopped dancing as their manager announces that there will be a new addition to their team.

Yuta leans on his knees for a bit, catching his breath before he stands up straight once again, at the same time that the new kid enters the room, shoulders hunched a bit, making his shyness and nervousness apparent to his new audience.

“This is Yoonoh. He will be joining you starting today,” their manager said and everyone lets a large, welcoming smile show on their lips to make the kid feel a bit more comfortable. Though it takes time, Yuta himself knows, but they’ll do their best to make him feel safe around them.

The kid stands straight before he bows, introducing himself in stuttering words when he stands back up, “H-hello! M-my name is Jung Yoonoh! Please take care of me!”

It was Taeyong who approached him first, hand outstretched in a handshake that Yoonoh hesitates to take at first. Then Johnny follows, then Taeil, Hansol, Ten and the others until it is Yuta’s turn.

He smiles and holds his hand out, “We’ll be with each other from here on out, so don’t be shy and don’t forget that you can ask us for help and lean on us when things get rough. We’re in this together. I’m Yuta, by the way, Nakamoto Yuta.”

“Nice to meet you, Yuta-hyung,” Yoonoh answers, smiling shyly at him as he reaches out to shake his hand. It was a gentle but firm grip.

“Welcome to the team, Yoonoh.”

*

Yoonoh became a part of the dance unit together with Yuta, Taeyong, Johnny, Ten and Hansol, so it was only normal that the six of them spend a lot more time together, learning new choreographies each week and then filming them when the day for their schedule shoot arrives.

Yuta lies down on his back on the hardwood floors of the training room, panting, as another day of rigorous practice ended. His limbs felt like jelly and it feels like he doesn’t want to move even an inch of his muscles.

“Good work today,” a white towel and a water bottle appears in his line of vision. Yuta eyes the objects and then the hand that holds them and then the face that comes with it. Yoonoh hovered above him, exhaustion in his eyes but still there was a smile on his face.

Yuta sits up and takes the towel and bottle, thanking Yoonoh as the younger boy settles down beside him on the floor.

“Are you having a hard time with the choreography?” Yuta asks him after taking a swig from the bottle, immediately consuming half of its content.

“Not really. I’m getting the hang of it now, though there is still this one step that kept on bothering me because I feel like I’m doing it differently,” Yoonoh answers, forehead creased as he thinks about their dance routine. Yoonoh does that a lot, Yuta observes. Sometimes, during a break and everyone is either lying on the floor or fiddling with their phones, Yoonoh remains standing by the mirror, lips pursed and forehead creased as he reviewed the motions of the choreography they just did moments ago. He admires it, every bit of hard work that Yoonoh and every other member of this team puts in. It inspires and motivates him to try harder too.

“Do you want me to help you out?” Yuta offers. Yoonoh immediately shakes his head, “You’re tired, hyung. You should get some rest.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I have a bit of energy left. Come on,” Yuta pats his knee and stands up, Yoonoh following suit, albeit a bit hesitant, and then they stand side by side in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

*

When Yoonoh became more confident and relaxed in front of them, he began to show more of his playful and childish side. It was refreshing to see.

But when it’s time to get serious, playful smiles and laughters are gone and replaced with determination and perseverance.

*

One day, Yoonoh tells them while fiddling with his fingers nervously, that it would be a lot better if they call him Jaehyun, because he feels a lot more comfortable using that name.

So everyone assures him that it’s fine and they understand and from that day on, they will call him Jaehyun.

“Thank you for trusting us, Jaehyun,” Yuta tells him after the group had their short but sincere talk. The smile that Jaehyun gives him is by far the most dazzling and the brightest that he had ever seen.

*

On Yuta’s birthday, everyone planned a surprise for him.

He should have noticed their weird behavior but he was too tired to even think that there was anything weird about it.

So when the lights are off in the practice room and suddenly there is a cake with lighted candles, voices singing him a happy birthday, he feels his heart swell at their thoughtfulness. Because they remembered and because they went out of their way to celebrate his special day, even in the simplest of ways.

He closes his eyes and makes a wish, then he blows his candles.

When he opens them once again, Jaehyun is holding one of the candles in his hand, a grin on his face as he approaches Yuta and smudges the icing on his cheek.

It had become some sort of tradition now, that everyone surprises everyone on their birthday and when it’s Yuta’s turn, Jaehyun gets the most excited, leading his Yuta-hyung into the room, standing next to him when he makes his wishes and always, always be the first one to smudge icing on his face before clinging to him for the rest of the day.

*

Yuta was a ball of nervous energy when they were waiting in the backstage just minutes away from their debut stage.

All years of hard work had finally led to this and even with the nervousness making his stomach queasy, he still can’t help but feel excited.

They had performed on-stage numerous times before today, had done interviews and photoshoots, but this is their official debut stage and the day when the world will finally meet NCT.

The PD called for them and they all stood up, filing out of their waiting room, into the hallway and towards the stage.

Yuta walks alongside Jaehyun, who had been silent since they were getting their hair and make-up done. He nudges him softly with his shoulder and the younger boy turns to look at him.

“You’ll do amazing,” Yuta simply says. Jaehyun smiles shakily at him, then he takes a deep breath, still nervous but calmed down a bit because of Yuta’s words.

“You too, hyung. Let’s do this.”

*

After their debut stage, they started getting a lot of attention in the media and most of them are new, mixed in with those who had stayed and watched them ever since they were still rookies with dreams.

They still had dreams though, they will always have them, but now they’re a step closer towards achieving those dreams.

*

Radio and variety show guestings were scheduled one after the other in between their stages in the different music shows. Of course aside from their on-stage charisma, people are curious about what NCT 127 is off the stage. It was the perfect chance to get to know and promote a new, on-the-rise boy group.

In one of those radio show guestings, Jaehyun sits beside Yuta.

At the tail end of the broadcast and during the last short break, Jaehyun leans close to whisper something in his ear, resulting in matching wide smiles and a handshake.

Yuta didn’t expect Jaehyun to pull his hand close and give the back of it a kiss. He pretends to be nonchalant about it, even pointedly ignoring the curious look that Haechan throws their way.

*

They always, always stick close together. They are best friends, in a way that they aren’t with the other members of the group.

Thoughts were shared silently— a passing understanding and then they would smile at each other even from across the room as soon as they met each other’s eyes, followed by a laugh and sometimes a high-five when they are seated beside or near each other.

(Even when Jaehyun sits in front of him or across him or just everywhere, as long as Yuta is within his reaching range, he will hold a hand out for Yuta to shake. And the same goes with Yuta.)

Thoughts were voiced out, too— be it in the silence of the common area at an ungodly hour of the night when the other occupants of the 10th floor already retired to their own rooms and private spaces, or during spontaneous trips, in the mountains when Yuta thought of hiking because it will still be long before he has to go on camera and there is time to spare and Jaehyun is there, more than willing to accompany him on an unplanned leisure activity.

When Jaehyun cries and is unable to sleep because he was burdened with the pressure of a princely image that the netizens impose on him, Yuta is there to listen, even as his eyes droop in exhaustion, he never stops until he is sure Jaehyun has calmed down enough.

“Just continue being the you that you are today,” were the words he told him once during New Year. They were filming and even with the cameras rolling, Yuta was sincere with his words. He always is.

When Yuta misses home and stays quiet about something he tends to keep inside, Jaehyun sits next to him— an open ear if Yuta ever needs someone to listen, to his problems or to the memories of the home he grew up in and spent most of his childhood at. Nakamoto-san met Jaehyun once through a video call and she loved him enough that she asked if someday, Yuta could bring him home. It was in the plans but it will happen. It’s not like Osaka is a place halfway around the world.

*

Sometimes, Yuta randomly remembers the things that they did the past days, the past months or the past years.

This time, as he sits beside Mark watching anime on his phone while the younger was watching their “To You # 3” video, Yuta spaces off and remembers the year 2017 and the rolling paper thing and a part of the message that he wrote on Jaehyun’s board.

_“Jaehyun-ah, let’s get married.”_

Back then it was a joke shared between them because that’s how they were, best friends of the same gag code, of the same humour.

Jaehyun enters the room and asks if they want to eat samgyupsal tonight because Taeil is already preparing the kitchen. Mark pauses the video answers that, “didn’t we just eat samgyupsal yesterday,” but he was already standing up and stretching his arms above his head.

Jaehyun just shrugs and then his eyes turn to Yuta who already paused his anime and was removing his earphones. Jaehyun smiles at him and Yuta notices the light red tint on his ears, the way they get when he’s flustered or shy or a bit of both, and Yuta suspects that he heard what Mark was watching a few moments ago.

Yuta grins and stands up, makes his way to the door to wrap an arm around Jaehyun, whose smile turned into a laugh as they walked together to the dining area with Mark on their heels.

*

After the Punch promotions ended, they popped open the bottle of wine that Lee Sooman gave them as a gift for being the new million-seller title-holders in the company.

Taeil didn’t waste time gathering the wine glasses and Johnny didn’t waste time taking out the cork from the bottle while the others cheered and clapped their hands. The managers just shook their heads but joined in the celebration. The new repackage album was a success, more than what they expected, so it was grounds for a celebration.

They shared lots of stories and after a few glasses, Taeyong’s skin was already flushed and he was giggling a lot, too. They played games as well and Doyoung even brought out werewolf game cards he bought earlier this year so they could play as a whole this time around.

When it was already late, they decided to turn in because they wanted to rest, it had been a long month and they just wanted long hours of goodnight’s sleep since they don’t have a schedule tomorrow. And the neighbor’s might be sleeping too so they didn’t want to disturb their evenings as well.

Jungwoo is asleep on the couch and Taeil is already dozing beside him, so while Mark and Haechan attend to the two of them, (Johnny and Doyoung already went ahead and brought slightly drunk Taeyong with them) Yuta and Jaehyun tasked themselves with the cleaning, wiping down wet surfaces, picking up wrappers and paper plates to dispose of, bringing the used wine glasses to the sink to wash.

They worked quickly in silence and after they did one last check to make sure everything was neatly arranged, Jaehyun called for Yuta’s attention just as the latter was about to turn off the lights in the common area and wish Jaehyun a good night before heading to his room himself.

“Hyung, do you want to take a walk? Get some fresh air,” Jaehyun asked, a bit hesitant and Yuta understands why, because he is probably thinking that Yuta just wants to go to sleep right now.

Not that that isn’t true, he does, but a late night walk doesn’t sound so bad. The seasons are changing and soon, summer will be upon them. Yuta would like to get as much cool night breeze as he could before it turns humid enough to make it feel sticky on his skin.

“Sure,” Yuta agrees, “Do you still need to get changed?”

Jaehyun shakes his head then they both move to wear their rubber shoes and silently walk down the stairs and out of the backdoor.

There wasn’t a concrete place where they would want to go so Jaehyun asks Yuta if he wanted to go to Han River after circling their neighborhood. Yuta agrees and thank god Jaehyun has his wallet with him so they could just take the bus. The other option was to jog, which was a good thirty minutes away, but they’re still full with the food they ate an hour ago.

The bus ride to Han River was nostalgic. Yuta remembers their pre-debut days when they will go and ride the bus there together, take a walk, play basketball and eat ramen at the convenience store after. It was the simpler days, Yuta missed it from time to time. But where they are now, they got there because of hard work and perseverance and the strength from each other and the people who continuously supported and believed in them.

He misses the younger days, they have a lot of memories to hold and look back to after all, but he is happy and grateful where he is now.

They found an empty park bench while walking around and they sat together, stretching their legs in front of them as they watched the lights dance on the dark surface of the water.

The place was peaceful. It was just him and Jaehyun in this park in the middle of Seoul, one of the busiest cities in the world, but as the moon rests higher on the sky, it turns quiet too, settling into a peaceful calm as it sleeps and waits for yet another day in its dream.

Yuta knows that Jaehyun wants to say something, call it intuition or something but he is pretty sure he could read Jaehyun fairly well now just as Jaehyun could do to him, and he was right when Jaehyun opens his mouth to speak.

However, the words that come were not exactly what he expected because that kind of topic doesn’t really go into the list of things they talk about in detail.

“Have you been in love, hyung?” Jaehyun asks and after Yuta got over his initial surprise, he started to consider the question and actually think about it.

Think about the years and the months and the days that passed and how the feelings just sit at the back of his heart and the thoughts linger at the back of his mind, refusing to be acknowledged and spoken off because once they were, it just means they are real.

Yuta thinks about soft brown hair in which he runs his fingers through when he gets the chance. He thinks of hardwork and compassion, strength and determination. He thinks of Otaru during winter and the sounds of a clock tower, the soft music playing from a piano music box and the smell of vanilla-scented artificial candles. He thinks of slender fingers playing the piano, accompanied by one of the most beautiful voices he had ever heard sing. He thinks about dimpled smiles and loud, exuberant laughters, and he comes to the conclusion that maybe yes, he is a little bit in love but also a little bit afraid of the extent of his feelings, especially when it had been there longer than he is sure of.

Before he could answer, though, Jaehyun continued talking, cutting off what Yuta was supposed to say but the older man was more relieved than irritated. He was content to listen for now.

“I have. Still am, and he is the most beautiful person in this world. For me at least,” Jaehyun says and there was a fond look in his eyes at the mention of this person he is in love with.

Yuta’s happy for him, but there was an undeniable ache in his chest when he realizes that this someone couldn’t be him. Maybe he is jealous, he didn't think he could be.

“Of all people, I didn’t think it could be him. I realized I was in love with him last Christmas. It was a lovely winter spent in LA.”

“The thing about falling in love, though, is that you never get to choose who you’ll fall in love with. The realization comes and hits you on the face and you’ll be shocked because all along, it was this person,”

“You don’t get to choose who to fall in love with but you get to choose what you’ll do about it,” Jaehyun turns to look at him meaningfully and at the sheer intensity in those brown eyes, smile long gone replaced with seriousness, Yuta’s breath got caught in his throat.

There are moments in life when sometimes, Yuta feels like something is about to change. It was a gut feeling that tickles him for days until he silently mutters, “I knew it,” because he was right all along.

This is one of those moments and he could remember another time when he felt this way, years back in an old dance studio in SM, heavily panting because of exertion and then a new kid enters the room and consequently, their lives. His life.

This was like that moment, only a bit more. He could hear his heart beating in his ears, could feel the lump in his throat as he choked out the words, “What did you choose to do then?”

Jaehyun smiles, ever-so-gently.

“Yuta-hyung,”

The moon shines brighter in the night sky and Jung Jaehyun takes a leap, both of courage and of faith, all while holding Yuta’s hand in his.

*

Yuta breathes in the fresh, Osaka air as he steps out of the airport, finally home after two years of promotions and jam packed schedules in South Korea.

“Yuta!” he hears his mother’s voice and he spots her immediately. Nakamoto-san comes running to her only son’s side and gives him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, happy that her child is finally home again.

She turns her head slightly to the side and her eyes catch the figure of a handsome man standing behind Yuta, bowing to the elder Nakamoto when he noticed that he has her attention now.

“Oh my gods, is this him?” Nakamoto-san gushed as she approached Jaehyun and held him at arm’s length before patting the younger man and smiling warmly at him, “Welcome to Osaka and to the family, Jaehyun. I’m glad Yuta finally brought you home.”

Jaehyun smiles bashfully while Yuta just rolls his eyes, but his lips are turned up in the corner.

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Nakamoto-san,” Jaehyun confidently says in Japanese (he had Yuta teach him everyday ever since they planned on taking a vacation in Osaka) then he shakes her hand and bows.

“The pleasure is mine as well, Jaehyun. Now come along, both of you. Momoka is waiting by the car,” Nakamoto-san ushers them both from the airport entrance and towards the car where Yuta’s older sister, Momoka, is leaning against the door of the driver’s seat, typing away on her phone.

She glances up and waves when she sees them, then she greets Yuta with a long hug. Jaehyun shakes her hand in greeting too, then they load all the bags in the trunk before hopping into the backseat together while Momoka drives and his mother takes the passenger seat.

On the way home, Nakamoto-san goes on a tirade of the places where Yuta should take and show Jaehyun while they are in Osaka, and the foods that he should let Jaehyun try. Momoka was smiling widely at her mother’s enthusiasm while Yuta tried to translate the things his mother said to a very confused Jaehyun.

“I’m honestly very glad that Yuta took you with him this time. You were all he talked about and he will even flush a bright whenever Momoka and his little sister teases him about you,” Nakamoto-san and Momoko giggles while Yuta’s ear turns bright red as he mutters, “Aish. Ma, stop.”

Jaehyun turns to him questioningly but Yuta just shakes his head, “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Later that night though, while Yuta washes the dishes together with his sisters, Nakamoto-san approaches him and holds his hands in hers, “Jaehyun, thank you for making our Yuta very happy.”

He understood the short message and he felt his heart clench in his chest as he gently squeezed Nakamoto-san’s hand in his, “Making him happy and loving him is all I would ever want, Nakamoto-san.”

The older woman smiled at him and pats the hand that holds hers, “You can call me Yuriko-san. Or mom, too,” the last part was added as a joke and both of them laughed, but Jaehyun feels like if Yuta and he did this right, then maybe marriage wouldn't be such an impossible thing. They will make mistakes and have fights along the way, but as long as they know what’s more important at the end of the day, then they’ll be fine.

“Thank you, Yuriko-san.”

When Yuta entered the living room and saw them, he raised an eyebrow. His wordless question was answered by a not-too-innocent smile from Jaehyun and a nonchalant shrug from his mother. He narrows his eyes at them before he sits down beside Jaehyun and his mother moves away, announcing, “Alright, time for the embarrassing photos!”

“Ma!”

*****************

**_V. Another place, another time_ **

****

The rays of the morning sun pass through the gaps of the curtain covering the window of their bedroom, bringing a bit of light into the otherwise dark room.

The blanket is draped over his waist, the sheets cottony soft on his skin. He creases his forehead, feeling a bit cold so he reaches out beside him for his source of warmth, other than the blanket of course.

A hand closed around his and he makes a soft sound in his sleep as he turns to his side and snuggles closer to the other body lying down beside him on this king-sized bed, and he sighs, content.

He feels a pair of lips kiss his knuckles and then the golden band that sits on his ring finger, and he smiles, eyes fluttering open as he looks at his husband who is now gazing at him with love and adoration in his eyes.

“Good morning, love,” Jaehyun greets him and honestly, Yuta can’t get enough of the domesticity that came with moving in with Jaehyun and marrying him, even when it had been two years since Jaehyun married into his family and took the Nakamoto name, and longer since they started living together.

No mornings are better than those spent with the person you love the most.

“Morning,” Yuta answers drowsily, his voice still laced with sleep, as he nuzzles his face into Jaehyun’s neck, much like an overgrown cat.

Jaehyun checks the time and sees that it is still a bit early before they have to get up and be responsible members of the society so he lets himself bask in the soft glow of the morning and wraps himself around Yuta, temporarily locked away from the rest of the world.

These are the kinds of moments he lives for.

Their story will close here and the rest of what will happen in their lives, in this universe and in the ones parallel to this, will remain between the two of them.

But let it be known that in every universe, what happens next is a mystery, but the only thing that remains constant is that Yuta and Jaehyun will find each other, and even if the roads diverged, even if the wars tear apart memories of what once was, even if there was someone else before them, even if they chose to take this path or another, they will always meet and they will always fall in love.

Undeniably.

**Author's Note:**

> The Road Less Traveled By is inspired by this novel I really liked titled "The Starless Sea." Also, a few other parts of this story like the Time thing and also the title of this fic came from that book too!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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